Don't forget BG:II's brief glimpse at Dark Sun #MakeADarkSunGame
I don't really have much else to add except that Astarion's introduction has been a point of contention from the beginning for a lot of people, especially without an explicit choice to kill him, but it might just be their way of letting all the people who don't have time for that chaotic evil nonsense know what their getting themselves into upfront.
And yes, more calls for prologues or anything really to help establish these characters is always welcome. I might just play as Astarion in my first playthrough just to see what they thought his actions would look like.
